In my classroom I don the guise of a Greek, a Roman, and a Plague Doctor. Today, here on my blog, I act as Janus, the Roman god of beginning and transitions, of gates and doors and passageways, and of endings looking both to the past and to the future.

Reading: I read at least 100 books, including the 41 official Discworld novels, and I like to think I kept a good mix of fiction and nonfiction. I kept track of memorable lines and shared them on my Teaser Tuesday reviews, and while I finished the TBR stack threatening to overtake the TV end table – and actually kept it clean for some weeks – Christmas filled it up again. I used the Library about once a month, and actually used the hold system. I even made it through without incurring a fine – huzzah!

Blogging: I resolved to keep a consistent blogging schedule, which somehow morphed into a goal of posting every day, which I did, indeed, do, despite Daylight Saving Time’s best efforts. I enjoyed the fun-for-me posts, namely Monday Morning Grievance and Saturday Morning Coffee. The latter will definitely become a feature as it turned out to be the best conversation starter of the year. I know I spent time reading and commenting, but I’m not sure if Wicked Word Wednesday actually grew. There were up and down weeks. I think I’ll continue it, but in a modified form to make it more fun.

Ignore those pesky grey boxes; I really did post every day. Stupid DST.

Writing: I pretty much failed in this area. I only wrote reviews on Goodreads for the books I read, but couldn’t be bothered to even copy/paste the review into Amazon. I didn’t do much of anything with pen or paper other than grading, and as for the book . . . well, I’m going to try again in the summer.

Life in General: Believe it or not, I was a better, happier person – the kind of person people want to be around and not just tolerate. I know this because people – even my family – actually said so without me asking them. I’m going to try to continue the process of progress.

I’d like to think I was more understanding of people, but in reality I most likely understood their negative qualities. I had no time for stupid in 2016, and 2017’s not looking good either. As far as complimenting people more than complaining about them, I’d say it’s was 50/50.

I did sleep better, no small thanks to a new mattress and much firmer pillow.

Looking Back at 2016 in General

Personally, 2016 was the year I finally felt things were going in a more positive direction.

I expanded my horizons, interacted with people I normally wouldn’t interact with, and made new friends.

Somehow I landed a guest host position on my favorite podcasting network, and I’m now a “regularly recurring host” on one particular show, Sectarian Review. I’m also working on a related project, but am in need of a Christian historian (that is, a historian with a Christian worldview, not necessarily a historian of Christianity) – so let me know if you know of anyone.

On a related note, I also got to interview John Fea, a well-known historian of early America.

After a year of unemployment, a year of direct sales, and a year of part-time work, Krystal has a wonderful, full-time job as head blacksmith of our local history site. I may have mentioned it once or twice (OK, I mention it all the time, but I’m so happy for her!). She’s also going back to school for an art degree and absolutely killing it. People ask me how it feels for her to be making more money than I and for her to be the one to get another degree, and I tell them

Krystal is a strong woman capable of extraordinary things. Stop selling her short. If I were any happier for her, I’d burst.

I visited Washington, D.C. for the first time thanks to the generosity of my aunt and uncle and had a blast with them and my cousin traipsing all about.

Life is good.

Looking Ahead at 2017

I really don’t have than many resolutions, but here they are anyway.

Reading: read at least 52 books I haven’t read before.

Writing: use June/July to move The Book closer to completion (as opposed to the zero work I did on it this year).

Blogging: write more personal posts and connect with more bloggers. Practically, this means I’ll be posting about 4 times a week. I might even use WordPress to give more general updates or to just share a picture rather than a full-fledged written post.

Life in General: continue to be more pleasant, easygoing, and a better person to be around.

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3 thoughts on “Janus”

I love your blog. Well done with your resolutions! I never wrote any of my book last year, either, but I did write the page numbers, haha! Perhaps there should be a website for these procrastinating writers. I enjoy your Saturday Morning coffee, and of course Wicked Word Wednesday. Keep up the good work!

I never set a goal of writing a book, this blog was enough for me…except I seem to have written 211 pages of an autobiography…this was done accidentally as I had absolutely no intentions of doing so. But there it is. And as one who follows your lovely wife around, I am so pleased for her! She is an incredible woman and I have happily watched her reach out for the things she wants. You, sir, are a very lucky man.

In 2017, I am resolving to do my fair share to bring back the dying art of letter writing. A letter a week to some poor, unsuspecting recipient! On actual, handwritten paper!

I’ve considered adding a “Dear John” page to my blog to post copies of the (de-identified) letters, but I hesitate. On the one hand it seems like a fun, unique way to chronicle the year, but in the other hand, it also feels a little voyeuristic and I wouldn’t want a public version of someones letter to take any sentiment away from their experience. But I digress…